Aitken opens Mini Max account at Buckmore

28 June 2010

Jack Aitken scored his first win of the year in the fourth round of the 2010 British Super One Mini Max Championship at Buckmore Park in Kent to keep him squarely in the title hunt.

On one of the hottest weekends of the year Aitken managed to keep his cool in the second final at the high speed venue as some of his rivals got a bit hot under the collar and with his victory following a strong third place finish in the first final Aitken left the Medway region as the top points scorer of the weekend.

Going into the first final Aitken was one of a number of potential winners having only qualified tenth fastest from the bumper 46 strong field. But heat finishes of second and fourth put him near the front of the grid for the first 23-lap final, in which he survived the carnage to finish third behind Joe Byrne and Ashley England in a race where only 19 of the 30 starters were running at the finish.

The second final was somewhat cleaner at the front with Byrne, England, Aitken and Ryan Norris disputing the lead. England deposed poleman Byrne on lap three and led the bulk of the race until Aitken and Norris swamped him with just a handful of laps to go.

With championship leader George Russell pushing England and Byrne further down the order the stage was set for a head to head duel between Aitken and Norris, who swapped the lead several times before Aitken finally took control on the penultimate lap. Norris chased hard and took the chequered flag less than half a second behind the victorious Aitken with Russell a couple of tenths further back in third, England fourth and Byrne fifth.

In the championship table Russell's podium coupled with his fourth place finish in the first final means he extends his lead to 18 points over Sam Ward, who could only finish eleventh and seventh respectively. Aitken's bumper points haul keeps him safely in third place just nine points behind Ward with Norris leading the chase in fourth overall, but more than 50 points behind Russell with three rounds to go.